Paper-feeding machine.



Patented ll'ec. 3|, 190i,

C, B. MAXSUN.

PAPER FEEDING MACHINE.

(Applicationflled Aug. 26,1901.)

' 3 Sheets-Shag! I.

(No Model.)

m: NORRIS PETERS co. mumuwm wnsnmumm n. c.

No.690,l67.' Patent-ed Dec,- 311, I901.

C. B. M'AXSQN. PAPER FEEDING MACHINE. (Application filed. Aug. 26, 1901.)

(Nu-Model.) 3 Sheets-Shah! '2.

m: Nuams PETERS on moroufno" wAsmNsTom u. c.

N0. 690,|67. Patented Dec. 3|, I901.

C. B. MAXSDN.

PAPER FEEDING MACHINE.

(Application filed Aug. 26, 1901.) (NpjlodeL) 3 Sheets-Shoat 3.

TH! Nonms PETERS w. Pho o-L NU. WASHINGTON. n. c.

" UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE.

CHARLES B. MAXSON, OF WESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE MAXSON PRINTING PRESS COMPANY, OF WESTERLY, Rl-IODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PAPER-FEEDING MACHINE.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 690,167, dated December 31 1901. Application filed August 26, 1901. Serial No. 73,274. (No model.)

To all whom it incty concern:

of Westerly, in the county of \Vashingt'on and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful-Improvements in Faper- Feeding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention, while relating to that class of machines which are employed for selecting successive sheets of paper or other material from a pile or mass and feeding them forward sheet by sheet to a ruling or other appropriate machine generally, has reference more particularly to that form thereof in which the selection of thesheets and their feeding forward are effected by imparting to the up per or under surface of such pile or mass a progressively-traveling Wave-like pressure from its rear to its point of discharge, the object of the invention being to provide a machine of this character which, while simple in construction and effecting the selection and forward translation of the successive sheets without the employment of a longitudinally-traveling member or members, shall at the same time be moreefficient in operation than those heretofore in use.

To these ends the invention consists, first, in the means whereby the paper or other material is supported and the successive sheets thereof selected and fed forward to the delivering-devices; second, in the appliances made use of in connection with these supporting and feeding devices for holding the paper or other material in proper position thereon and for delivering the sheets thereof to the succeeding machine in succession, and, third,in various other constructions and combinations of parts, all as will hereinafter more fully appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

I which form apart of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a paper-feeding machine constructed in accordance with my invention, showing also in like elevation a portionof a paper-ruling machine of ordinary or other construction; Fig. 2, a plan view of the same with certain parts of the feedingmachine broken away for purposes of illus- 5o tration; Fig. 3, a rear elevation of the feeding-machine; Fig. 4, a transverse section of one of the feed-bar-operating cam-shafts, showing also the form of the cams I prefer to employ in practice and their relative arrangement upon the shaft; Fig. 5, a side elevation of a portion of therear end of a paper-feeding machine of a slightly-modified construc tion, and Fig. 6 an isometric projection of a portion of a slightly-modified form of feedbar detached.

In all the figures like letters of reference O indicates a series'of bars upon which the paper or other material is supported and the individual sheets thereof successively selected out from the others and fed forward for delivery to the ruling or other machine.

These bars are preferably constructed of alength to extend across the interior of the frame or housing A from the inner face of one of its side walls to the inner face of the other and are arranged side by side in close relationship'near the rear end portion thereof, with their upper edges, withwhich the paper or other material contacts, rounded and the opposite ends of each provided with vertical grooves c, that are adapted to engage with and slide upwardly and downwardly on correspondingly-shaped vertical guides 0, extending inwardly from the inner faces of the respective side walls of the frame or housing adjacent to them. The series of bars being thus disposed receive the paper orother material, which is supplied in bulk to its upper surface from time to time, as may be rer the bar adjacent thereto.

quired, and in order to hold it thereon and prevent it from lateral displacement, except at the location where the successive sheets are fed forward for delivery to the ruling or other machine, I preferably make use of u pwardlyextending vertical side walls, against which its edges abut and by which its lateral movements are restrained. In some instances I find it convenient to employ these upwardlyextending vertical side walls opposite the en tire four edges of the mass or pile of paper or other material, while in others they may be employed opposite only three of them. In the form of the invention which I have selected for the purpose of illustration, however, I have shown them applied opposite only two of the edges thereof, of which the wall dis disposed opposite the front edges of the mass or pile, with its lower edge raised slightly above the highest limit of movement of the bars 0 to permit of the sheets of the paper or other material selected and fed forward pass ing under it and the wall 61 arranged opposite the rear edge thereof, with its lower edge extended downward slightly below the downward limit of movement of the upper edge of In these positions the two walls are respectively supported from the frame or housing A through the intervention of the brackets d and d which are socured to the upper surface of the latter by screws or bolts d Of these the brackets d are employed in connection with the front wall dand have clamped in their upper ends by screws d a rod (i which extends across from one of the brackets to the other and has fixedly secured to it by brackets cl the front wall d. On the other hand, the brackets 61 are employed in connection with the rear wall d and have likewise clamped in their upper ends by screws d a rod (1 which similarly extends across from one of the brackets to the other and has rigidly secured to it by brackets d the rear wall 01'.

With the paper or other material deposited upon the bars 0 between the front and rear walls (1 and d the selection of the successive sheets thereof and the feeding of them forward for delivery to the ruling or other machine are effected by simply imparting upand-down movements to such bars in progressive sequence from the rear bar of the series to the front bar thereof, and thereby communicating to the under surface of the paper or other material resting thereon a succession of wave-like raising and lowering movements that travel progressively from the rear to the front edge thereof. As thus acted upon by the bars 0 as they are raised and lowered in the order specified, the successive sheets of the paper or other material from the under surface of the mass or pile will be separated from those above and moved forward one after another beneath the lower edge of the wall d toward the front or delivery end of the machine, each up-and-down movement of the extreme rear bar of the series separating a new sheet from those above and initiating its forward travel, while the up-and-down movements of the remaining bars in progressive sequence from the rear to the front move forward one after another toward the front or delivery end of the machine the successive sheets that have been separated from those above and started forward on their travel by the rear bar of the series, as above explained. The successive sheets thus fed forward by the bars 0 follow one another with only a short distance between their respective forward ends, and in order to support them in their onward travel after they em orge from beneath the walls (1 I make use of the table D, which, extending horizontally across the top of the frame or housing A, with a slightly-downward inclination from its rear end to its front, is supported thereon by stands f, which, secured to the under side of the former, rest at their lower ends upon the latter, as shown.

For imparting the required upward-anddownward movements to the bars 0 various means may be employed. In the form of the invention which I prefer in practice, however, the upward movement is imparted to these bars by cams E and F and their downward movement by gravity. When this arrangement is availed of, these cams are preferably constructed in eccentric form, as shown in Fig. 4, and are respectively secured to shafts H and I, which, being disposed beneath such bars near the opposite ends thereof, are mounted in suitable bearings formed in or secured to the front and rear ends of th frame or housing A and are severally connected with the driving-shaft B through the intervention of appropriate bevel-gears g and g", whereby to be rotated in unison. As thus disposed the bars 0 severally rest upon their respective cams, which in each series are equal in number to that of the bars, and in order that the required upward-and-downward movements may be imparted to them in a progressive sequence from the rear to the front of the series and their opposite ends moved in unison the series of cams E and F are so disposed upon their respective supporting-shafts as to bring the points of greatest eccentricity of the successive individual members of each into a spiral line extending around its appropriate shaft from one end of the series to the other, as well as into corresponding relationship with respect to those of the cooperating fellow cams of the other.

WVith the cams constructed and arranged as above described the raising and lowering of the series of bars are effected in the required order by simply rotating the shafts II and I through the main shaft B when the successive bars are carried upward by the acployed in connection with some kinds of material, the former of these modes of operation may be found desirable. when the machine is to be employed in 0011- nection with other kinds of material the latter may bepreferred, and either may be adopted, as the particular character of the material to beoperated upon or the exigencies of the machine may demand.

In most instances the required action upon the paper. or otherv material being operated upon will be attained by the upper edges of the bar alone without other addition thereto, and in Fig. 1 I have shown these bars as thus constructed. 1 In other instances, on the other hand, a more adhesive surface may be required, and in these cases a sheet of rubber or other appropriate adhering material it may be secured to their upper edges, as shown i Fig. 6.

The ineansby which the successive sheets of paper or other material fed forward by the bars 0 over the table D are delivered to the ruling or other machine preferably consists of the rolls K and L, which are disposed near the front end of such table, with the under roll K journaled at its ends in suitable bearings 2', formed on or secured to the inner faces of the side walls of the frame or housing A and the roll L resting thereon and journaled at its ends in similar bearings lo, formed in the stands Z, that are secured to the upper edge of such frame or housing, as shown. As thus disposed the bite of these rolls is brought substantially into line with the upper surface of the table D, whereby as the successive sheets are'fed forward over the latter they will be forced into the former and be carried through between the rolls when these rolls are rotated. For imparting the required rotation to these rolls various expedients may be adopted. Of these the one I have found the most convenient consists of the pulleys m and n, which are respectively. secured to the shaft H and to one of the journals of the under roll K and are connected by a quarter-turn belt 0. B y this arrangement the under roll is positively rotated and communicates the required rotation to the upper roll by the friction between them.

In order to insure of the proper friction being imparted by the rolls to the sheets of paper or other material to carry thelatter through between them when carried or otherwise fed into their bite, it may sometimes be found desirable to force these rolls together by springpressure. In the construction illustrated in the drawings, however, they are held in the required frictional contact by the action of gravity, to which end the upper roll is preferably constructed of metal and of the proper size to afford the required pressure.

With the rolls rotated and held in contact as above explained the sheets of paper or other material successively fed forward over the table D by the upwardly and downwardly moving bars 0 and forced'into their bite will On the other hand,

be carriedthrough between them and delivered upon the moving tapes M of the machine arranged in front to be carried forward by these tapes and successively acted upon by the operating mechanism appropriate to that machine. The machine thus arranged in front of these delivery-rolls K and L may be a ruling-machine, a printing-press, a package-wrapping machine, or other appropriate mechanism. The portionof the machine depicted in the drawings, however, as disposed inthat relationship is of an ordinary paperruling machine, and while forming no part of my present invention is'shown in the drawings merely for the purpose of illustration.

In the' above description I have referred to the opposite ends of the machine and ofcertain of its parts as beingthe rear end and the front end. Wherever, therefore, these terms appear herein it is to be understood that by rear end is meant the end where the paper-or other material is supplied to the machine and as shown at the left in Figs. land 2 and that by front end is meant the. end where the delivery of the successive sheets to the ruling or other machine is effected, as shown at the right in those figures.

As thus setforth it will be seen'that I produce a paper-feeding machine which, while simple in construction and not liable to a disarrangement of its parts, accomplishes the efficient feeding of the sheets of paper or other material upon which it may be called to'operate successively forward one after another in consecutive sequence, as well as the delivery of the same to a ruling or other machine in that order, without the employment of rolls or other devices that move or travel along their surfaces, while at the same time attaining other and further advantages in point of construction and modes of operation which are obvious and not necessary to be enumerated herein.

Although in the foregoing I have described the best means contemplated by me for carrying my invention into practice, I Wish it distinctly understood that I do not limit myself strictly thereto, as it is obvious that I may modify the same in various ways without departing from the spirit thereof; but,

Having described my invention and specified certain of the ways in which it is or may be carried into effect, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- 1. The combination in a paper-feeding machine, with a series of bars for contact with the paper or other material, of mechanism for imparting to each of said bars a reciprocating movement toward and away from such chine,with a series of parallelly-disposed bars.

upon which the paper or other material rests,

of mechanism for imparting upward-anddownward movements to said bars toward and away from such paper or other material progressively from one end of the series to the other, whereby to communicate a Wavelike up-and-down action to its under surface along the same without the bars traveling along in that direction, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a series of parallelly-disposed bars, and means by which the individual members thereof are held from lateral traverse and guided in an up-anddown direction, of a series of spirally-disposed cams arranged under each of the ends of such series of bars, shafts upon which these cams are mounted, and means whereby these shafts may be rotated in unison, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a series of parallelly-disposed bars adapted to receive and support a mass or pile of paper or other material thereon, and means for imparting upward-and-downward movements to said bars toward and away from the same progressively from one end of the series to the other,wherethem progressively from one end of the se ries to the other, whereby to feed sheets of paper or other material resting upon them successively forward toward the delivery end of the machine, of mechanism for delivering the successive sheets fed to it to any appropriate machine arranged in front thereof, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day of August, 1901.

CHARLES E. MAXSON.

Witnesses:

FLORA B. LANGWORTHY, JOHN I-IIsooX. 

